A little on Lewis Cutrer

Houston Mayor Lewis Cutrer meets with Fidel Castro during the Cuban leader’s visit to Houston on April 27, 1959. The hat Castro is holding was presented to him that day by Marvin Zindler, according to the Houston Press.

Former Houston Mayor Lewis Cutrer was born on this day in 1904. Cutrer wasn’t from Houston; he was born in Osyka, Mississippi, and moved here in 1928.

Prior to becoming mayor in the late 1950s, Cutrer served as city attorney and general counsel for the Houston Independent School District. As mayor, Cutrer was heavily involved in the development of the Lake Livingston project and Intercontinental Airport.

In fact, Terminal C at the airport is named after him.

Cutrer also ordered an end to racial segregation in Houston city buildings, lunch counters and swimming pools during the early 1960s, according to the Handbook of Texas. He lost the 1963 mayoral election to Louie Welch.

Cutrer died in 1981.

Dell Van Dusen : Post file

Cutrer took a picture of the growing Houston skyline before a July 1962 ceremony that marked the opening of this stretch of the North Freeway. In the background, construction work continues on what’s now the El Paso Energy building.